Fostering Imagination through Journaling
All the ways to record life
This month I wanted to foster my imagination through journaling. I journaled in my usual ways and tried a couple others. I loved each but definitely found a new favorite as well. Journaling in all its forms feels like a great way to explore new ideas, express myself in a creative way, write out stories, real or made up (or real from my perspective and made up from someone else’s), understand who I am, imagine who I could be, and explore how I will get there. Whenever I feel off or emotionally stuck my journals are the first place I go.
My Usual Journals:
Prayer and Processing:
The first is more of a prayer journal. I write prayers in it, record thoughts about bible reading I am doing, explore faith questions, etc. The other is a general journal for recording stuff I am processing or just want to remember. Mostly frustrations I am trying to work out but also celebrations I want to name. Prayers are sometimes written in there too but mostly that is just my download journal. I might transition to my prayer journal if I get to a point where I really want to converse with God about the topic instead of just navel gazing about it. But I am a big fan of navel gazing. These 2 journals were one journal until about a year ago when I realized sometimes before I am ready to pray I need a place to vent. And I wanted to do that in a separate journal.
Monthly Thankful List:
Several years ago I hung up a white board in the space between my living room and kitchen where we record things we are thankful for. As I went about this month thinking about journaling I realized that is a journal of sorts and the one I most faithful write in. It is a place to note observations from the month and explore the question of how we have been blessed each day. While I want to write things like, “The warm breeze blowing across the grass at sunset”, most days I write things like, “Warm day”, “Soft grass”, “Friends”. But as I come to the end of the month I see each of those little notes creating a story of a month that passed and the beauty and blessings I experienced along the way. I do not save any of these lists. Don’t take pictures to look back on. I ruthlessly erase them on the first of the month and start over. My imagination for gratitude is an ongoing and often repetitive practice, many months I write the same things. The warm summer days find their way onto every list, my gratitude for those warm days lasts all summer long. I am not looking to come up with 1000 unique things I am grateful for, I am looking to foster a practice of being thankful every day in all things. I’m imagining a life of gratitude not a list of the most creative ways to observe the world. If you write poetry then make a beautiful list of phrases to inspire all of us, but if you don’t, just slap your one word gratitude on a list and see what builds from there.
Calendar Diary:
Last year I started keeping a little diary in my calendar. It is a great place to add a one or two sentence summary of the day. I find it really helpful to look back on and see how my week/month/year unfolded and how I have changed and grown. I had done an end of month summary last year in my old calendar which had an end of month summary page. This year my calendar is more pared down. I love the calendar itself but do miss some of the end of month summarizing the other one called me to do. I guess I will be in search of a new one again next year…
New ways I Journaled this Month:
Q&A a day a 5-year journal:
This month I pulled out a journal which has been sitting on my shelf for years, since 2017 according to the handful of entries in it. It is a 5 year journal, sort of a line a day type journal but there are specific questions you answer each day. You get to reflect on how you perceive the world in different ways over a 5 year period. The nice thing about the questions is that it is easy to go back and answer a few days if you don’t pull it out every day. Case in point I caught up several days today. The “what is in your refrigerator?” question was a little tricky because I just restocked and don’t know what I had in there 3 days ago so I just went with the basic, “not much”. Which was broadly true. Next year I will stand with the door open and record the details. That’s the beauty, I get to put together 5 years of reflections that will come together to reflect me and my story in a unique way.
Photo Journalism:
My favorite journal experiment this month was a sort of picture journal. I borrowed my daughter’s mini photo printer to see if I would like it/use it enough to justify buying one for myself. And the answer is yes. I didn’t use it a ton but used it to print out a picture or two from my day and write a short reflection. I started this at the cabin and John laughed when he watched me print a picture and then pull a glue stick out of my bag to attach it to the journal. He didn’t know that ever since art month I keep a bag stocked for junk journaling and of course it always comes to the cabin with me.
Now that I have discovered this medium I find myself thinking about what pictures I am taking that I can reflect on in a journal. And what other keepsakes might end up getting added to it. For now, taking a picture that will be a visual part of a journal entry has been fun. And this style of journaling has me reflecting both as I sit down and as I go about my day. What might I say about that picture I just took? In the past I have taken pictures because I had a reflective thought but then did not know what to do with them so they just become interesting pictures that may or may not have been profound when I took but now just languish in my google photos folder.
I will be doing more of this throughout the rest of the year. I have a couple pictures I plan to print out tomorrow and journal about. Same day would be my preference but a couple days later is still fresh in my mind. This way of combining story telling and journaling excites me. Can’t wait to see what I create the rest of the year.
There are dozens of other ways to journal and maybe over time I will try some more options. I have done bullet journaling but while there were aspects I liked, the truth is I don’t feel a deep need to track very many things and a general calendar is a better fit for me. From what I am gathering, if I wanted to start keeping track of things like reading lists a common place journal might be similar. Future research on that one.
Do you journal? What kind of journal do you use? One of these? Something else I should try? Do you have more than one type of journal or a master journal for everything?
Continued Imagination Practices
What did I read this month?
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynn Reid Banks
Earlier this month a friend mentioned she was building a library for future grandchildren. She had picked this book up at a half priced books and was reading it for the first time. I had also never read it and knew it would probably be available right away on the Libby app so I said I would read it too. It’s a pretty quick read and I finished it in a couple short sittings. It’s not a book that will become a top recommendation for me but I did enjoy the book and the development of the boys as they slowly understood the seriousness of having a real life cowboy and Indian to take care of. That growth in childhood comes in many forms and this is a great story to pass along the lesson of responsibility.
The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave
I read, “The Last Thing He Told Me” several years ago and enjoyed it. So I had put this book on hold when it came out and I finally made it to the top of the list. It was as enjoyable as the first one. Not too light but not too deep. Fun story, good writing. I would read the first one before coming to this one. But if it has been a while since you read the first one, as was my case, she does enough summarizing that I was able to recall the first one even though it has been a number of years. I would like to just sit around reading books like this all the time. I have filled my libby app hold box with a few options I hope fit the bill. One came in the last day of the month and so far is exactly what I like.
What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience by Tish Harrison Warren
I heard this author on a podcast talking about what led her to write this book and so related to the season of life she expressed that I knew I wanted to read it. I have been listening to it and it is excellent. She expressed a frustration with how to engage her faith, the prescribed quiet time of both our young adult lives: Read the bible, journal, figure out what my take away should be, how do I live in light of this new information (rather than how do I understand and know God better in light of this new information). I still have a love for reading and journaling but I have felt lost in how to engage the bible the last few years. Probably needs a longer post to explain why but suffice it to say, she was expressing the exact things I was feeling. She found the dessert fathers and mothers during that time and this book is how she learned to re-engage her relationship with God. I am not quite done but enjoying the book, the processing and her writing style.
I am listening to it and am not sure I am getting as much out of it listening to it. I love an audiobook novel or memoir full of stories but find non fiction is generally harder for me to concentrate on. So, things I am learning about myself.
The Bible Project
This isn’t reading per se but seems to go here. I decided, related/unrelated to the above book, to watch some Bible Project videos or listen to their podcast as my devotional act rather than reading a specific devotional (I did “My Utmost for His Highest” daily for years and if you are looking for that kind of thing I highly recommend. It just seemed like it was time to mix it up). I started with the 10 commandments series which was great. They somehow make the academic aspects of theology not quite as mired down in the mud as it often feels and explain and apply things in very understandable language. Recommend. John and I have been listening to the podcast series on Redemption while driving to the cabin, also great.
Art this month: (beside’s my photo journal, multi-tasking these categories now.)
My mom turns 80 in a couple days and my sister and her entire family (11 people in total) flew into town to celebrate at the end of July. It was a whole weekend of party activities. My part was planning a dinner at a winery. At the last minute I decided to bring a few flower arrangements to set around the space adding one more little touch. Flower arrangements are something I like to do but am never sure I am any good at it. They tend to feel off in some way I can’t name. But I did 5 little arrangements in little vases I had and I think they are some of my best creative work. Maybe I need to start putting tiny arrangements around my house instead of using the full size vases.
Curiosity/questions:
The question I spent a lot of time asking myself this month is: What is the over/under on deciding you are miserable enough to get your gallbladder out when you are not so sick you are regularly going to the ER but are mildly miserable all the time? (And the side, probably more honest, question, how traumatized am I by last summer’s surgery and am I ready to risk another?) This has been an ongoing question which I mentioned a few weeks ago. Having waited and suffered way too long with my need for a hysterectomy I decided to be pro active this time. The tests assure me it isn’t going to heal itself and I am ready to have more reliably good feeling days1. I’m rebuilding my trust with a new surgeon that assures me he knows what he is doing and that doing this electively rather than out of the ER is the safer method.
Experiences:
Spending a few days with my sister’s family this month during my mom’s birthday weekend. This wasn’t a new experience necessarily but it is a rare experience in MN so it feels fresh and new each time. Love each of them and their unique personalities.
Storytelling:
Speaking of my mom’s birthday weekend. On the second night we went around answering questions about mom. When it got to me answered my question but then said I really wanted my dad’s question (these were randomly assigned questions) His was, share a memorable meal you ate or cooked with mom. I shared a couple stories of cooking with her. We all laughed as I regaled them with my attempts to cook with mom as an adult and the clarifying experiences they were as I realized how vastly different we approach things which basically helped me understand why we fought throughout my teen years2. Good times.
And speaking of stories, I have been thinking about a woman at our church who died last month. She had been a quiet but wise presence through much of my adult life. I met Mary 22 years ago when they joined our small group of people planning to start a church. She was in her late 50’s when we met and I was in my early 30’s. Most of us in the group were in their 20’s and early 30’s, trying to figure out our life, raising children and being women of faith. Mary became a quiet example to all of us. Not because she was a teacher standing around lecturing us but because she simply lived a faithful life, loved us, encouraged us, and allowed for us to make our mistakes and recover from them. She had made her mistakes and recovered and I guess she figured we all got to do the same thing. One of my favorite Mary stories was from early in the church life. Mary was always very frugal. The kind that washed out her zip lock bags kind of frugal. And not because she couldn’t afford new ones but because it seemed unnecessary to spend that money when she could just wash them out. We had ordered ice cream from a specialty maker someone knew for a neighborhood launch event. But Mary noted it would be significantly cheaper to just buy a few gallons at the grocery store. We agreed and Mary called the ice cream maker to cancel our order. But when she called, before she could cancel, the woman enthusiastically told her she had just gotten back from a special trip to Wisconsin, driving all day, to pick up an ingredient she needed for our ice cream and it was ready for pick up. Instead of canceling and saving the money Mary said, “I’ll be right over”. She never sacrificed loving and honoring people for her frugality. Remembering that story helps me imagine the person I want to be. Re-using things when I can3, and being generous when it comes to supporting and loving the people I encounter each day.
How was your month? How did you use your imagination?
I have created a nice natural health regimen which I do feel helps. The top thing I found helps is actually a caster oil pack. Not sure if it is the caster oil, the heat I put over it or the rosemary essential oil I mix in but I do feel better with that. Digestive enzymes seem to help, I have some powder with a bunch of herbs that support gallbladder those also seem to help. They are all helping manage it but nothing is healing it. I might keep doing the caster oil pack afterward just because it is relaxing. And the digestive enzymes for fatty meals because I won’t have a gallbladder to tell my body to ramp up the digestion anymore.
Was this a “why we love mom” time or a mom roast?…Bit of both.
Although I have never washed a zip lock bag. That is a line I still refuse to cross.